Emulsion Release Fort St. John

DISCLAIMER: Information provided is based on reports received by Emergency Management B.C. Information provided is considered to be current at the time of posting, but is subject to change as new information becomes available.

Incident Description

Incident Date	June 28, 2020
Name	Emulsion Release Fort St. John (DGIR: 201094)
Source	Pipeline
Nearest Community	Rigel, BC
Spilled Content	Emulsion
Who is involved?	Transport Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, B.C. Ministry of Environment & Climate Change Strategy (ENV), Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Oil & Gas Commission

Response Phase Detail

The responsible person or spiller is legally required to clean-up or manage the clean-up of a spill. In incidents where the responsible person is unknown, unable or unwilling to manage the clean up, the Ministry of Environment & Climate Change Strategy (ENV) may assume the role. The updates below reflect the Ministry’s oversight of the spillers’ actions; details describe the spill response phase, only, and not the complete lifecycle of the spill. See More Information for other related reports. 

Updates are in reverse chronological order, with the most recent at the top. Industry-specific language may be explained in the Glossary of Terms (PDF).

Most Recent Update

July 10, 2020 - 11:45 am

Spilled material has been removed from the ponds and workers continue to remove impacted soil from site.

Environmental Emergency Response Officers (EERO) from the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy (ENV) and Oil & Gas Commission (OGC) Inspectors have visited the site several times over the past week to ensure on-going response actions are maintained.

Sampling of domestic water is on-going and has shown no signs of contamination.

No further updates from this incident are anticipated at this time.

July 6, 2020 - 5:30 pm

On June 28th, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNRL) reported a pipeline break in Rigel approximately 80 km north of Fort St. John. As a result of the break, up to 50,000 litres of oil and water mix (emulsion) has leaked onto the field surrounding the pipeline as well as a pair of isolated ponds about 20 metres away.

An Environmental Emergency Response Officer (EERO) with the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy (ENV) and an Inspector from the Oil & Gas Commission (OGC) jointly attended the site to assess the situation. Environmental consultants and staff from CNRL have set up wildlife deterrents and created access to the area for MOE and OGC staff.

Workers removed spilled material which was then sent to a facility for disposal over the weekend. 

Further information will be provided as it becomes available.